Council waives £2m 'roof tax' payment owed by Little Stanion housing developer - meaning final phase will go ahead

The final phase of a housing development is to go ahead after North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) decided to waive the £2m ‘roof tax’ payment owed by the developer.

The Little Stanion development near Corby, which has been under construction for over a decade, is still yet to start its last stage of work.

JME Developments asked NNC to remove their obligation to pay £11,000 for every home they sold back into the public purse and an ‘up-lift sum’ which would contribute 34 per cent of the additional house sale profits back into the community. The final phase will see another 99 houses, a village hall and a multi-use games area (MUGA) for the community.

The developer cited the project as being “financially unviable” if the costs remained and warned that it would be largely shut down if the council did not approve the modifications by the end of 2023. The council agreed to remove the section 106 roof tax payments in a planning meeting on December 6.

The village hall was supposed to be completed after planning permission was approved in 2018, but developers say that they are looking to finish the site by 2028. The money to build the village hall and MUGA would come from the sale of the 114 houses for which planning permission has already been granted.

Councillors were faced with three options for continuing the development of the hall. Option A, recommended by officers, set out a removal of the roof tax and either a payment of £1.2m before the start of the final residential phase or an insurance bond to be sought at JME’s expense. This would be in line with the construction costs of the community building and a £100,000 MUGA.

Cllr Stuart Nash, of Little Stanion Parish Council, said: “Suitable community facilities are very badly needed for our large and fantastic community. There have been false starts and broken promises in our community’s history.

“The build has now increased from four years to at least ten years and the promises remain unfulfilled. Little Stanion Parish Council urge you to accept recommendation A - it is the only one that stands any chance that we gain those facilities.”

However, James Moore, Managing Director at JME, said that the officer’s recommendation was “practically impossible” due to issues with acquiring a bond.

He said: “In the best interest of all stakeholders I would respectfully ask members to approve recommendation C. Officers say that the construction of the village hall is three years behind schedule. If North Northamptonshire Council had not blocked our 2019 request to remove the roof tax the village hall would now be built.”

Option C laid out an opportunity to omit the roof tax for the developers and use “reasonable endeavours” to obtain an insurance bond to secure delivery of the village hall, with the cost of such being deducted from the hall’s budget. It also included a ‘security restriction’ whereby they will not be able to start construction of the 22 apartments in Block C until the hall is complete.

Cllr Wendy Brackenbury, chair of the planning committee, said: “We need to ensure the village hall is delivered. There’s a risk that Little Stanion won’t get their village hall regardless of what recommendation we go for.

“Therefore I think we need to go for a recommendation that has the smallest risk that it won’t be delivered and I think that’s recommendation A.”

Nigel Bell, a local government solicitor at the meeting, relayed comments from officers that they were “very concerned” that if recommendation C was accepted the village hall “will not be delivered or it will be started and not completed”.

They also highlighted the fact that there was no evidence from the developer that a bond couldn’t be negotiated, and they needed “certainty” before pursuing other options.

The committee voted to approve recommendation A, to remove the roof tax to free up funds to build the village hall and, upon approval of the specification, to obtain an insurance bond at JME’s expense.